Fred D Mentor Group Part III (Page 85)

Haha...I was actually going to say something similar..are cat is the same way.  I smartened up though and now feed him at night before bed.

Fortunately, the dogs stick (mostly) to the alarm/coffee schedule so I can sleep in a bit more on weekends.

Funny, my cat and dogs just do not bother us at all until I get up.  Now, that could be due to the fact I am up super early almost always and they give a sigh of relief on the rare days I don't so they can sleep in.  lol  Sorry, no advice for you.  I am a morning person and always have been.  I love getting up, having my coffee, relaxing a bit, and then working out.  It is my calm before the storm of the work day.

Are you going to bed early enough?

If you find it difficult to find work that offers you the luxury of living and working across time zones, then I have found the next best thing is to get EVERYTHING ready to go the night before: all clothes laid out, bottles made, bike on the trainer, tires pumped, clothes for work already laid out, etc, etc. For some reason that all makes a huge difference to me. If I have to think about any of the "getting ready to go" stuff I often find myself procrastinating. Make it so you can just get up and go.

Oh, and don't even think about checking the mentor group or slowtwitch before you go. That is always a kiss of death for me.

And for the record I agree 100% wih the "get an annoying pet" advice. I have enjoyed the alarm services of both dogs and cats, and have even found a bird to work in a pinch.

Edited by TankBoy 2012-11-28 8:38 AM

mndymond - 2012-11-28 9:00 AMEnded up with a flat on the trainer this morning. Was on my last set of 6x5 at LT. Won't be making it up today though! Going to emerg journal club tonight to hopefully secure an emergency interview at my school! hope you all have good days. PS: To Yanti-11 hr trainer ride?? You crazy.

Melissa - at least the flat was on the last one - it is always best to practice flat changes when you are tired and sweaty! Good luck tonight on scoring the interview.

I don't use GC, so I cannot say, but I have requested it for training peaks. The feed back I received was that it is a frequent request and that they are working on it. With the increase in social/sharing habits it is kind of a brilliant idea. I really like in Strava that you can set up multiple privacy zones - I have one at home, one at work, one at all of our family residences, etc. I do wish the radius was user-defineable, however. It is good practice to set up multiple over lapping zones around nearby addresses, especially if you often ride out in all directions from home, work, etc.

No, I don't think there is a privacy setting like that on GC. I had searched on this when I first started using it a few months ago. I usually do a walk/jog warm up for the first 0.25 miles then start my watch after I leave my street, same with the bike bec I leave my shoes clipped on and it takes a few minutes to get going. I keep my GC profile completely private and now that my Garmin 10 uploads straight onto Strava (it didn't until last week), then I can't see myself using GC very often.  

Those of us who were watching our weight/ trying to lose a few lbs...how is it going?

I'm happy to say that I quickly lost the pesky 5lbs and then some, so I'm actually below where I wanted to be= wiggle room for the upcoming festivities!

I took Bryan's advice and went Gluten free for a few weeks, I didn't replace my cracker/muffin/cookie habit with GF alternatives, rather I ate more fruit, oats and veggies in their place. I'm staying at about 75% GF for now  

Congrats!  I think I would have a really tough time with GF.  

I'm on target for what I was hoping - 165 on Monday morning, down from 168.  I'd like to see if I can get down to 160 over the winter - lowest I've been is 161-ish. 

gsmacleod - 2012-11-28 10:01 AM

axteraa - 2012-11-28 10:07 AM Here is my current strategy that seems to be working for me.  I get up at 4:20 for both bike and swim mornings (4-5 days/week).

We make our coffee in a french press so I grind the beans before going to bed and have it ready waiting for the hot water.  I have a timer on the kettle to start boiling the water at 4:12, it takes 8 minutes.  Alarm goes off at 4:20 and I usually hear the kettle click indicating it's ready within 30 seconds.  The dogs (in another room) also hear the alarm and the kettle click and they start whining and sometimes scratching on the door.  This is very effective for getting me up!  I go pour the water on the coffee, head to the bathroom and then let the dogs out of their room and feed them.  By the time that is done, the coffee is ready and I can enjoy it while I wake up for the workout.

What! You grind beans and let them sit out overnight! Might as well get your coffee at Tim's or *$'s if that is what you are going to do! Shane

I'd kill for a Tim's coffee right now...

My dog has recently started waking me up to be fed in the morning. Unfortunately "morning" varies from about 3am to 6am for him. No consistency. BUT it's at least motivation to get up when he gets restless.

bzgl40 - 2012-11-28 12:03 PM

gsmacleod - 2012-11-28 10:01 AM

axteraa - 2012-11-28 10:07 AM Here is my current strategy that seems to be working for me.  I get up at 4:20 for both bike and swim mornings (4-5 days/week).

We make our coffee in a french press so I grind the beans before going to bed and have it ready waiting for the hot water.  I have a timer on the kettle to start boiling the water at 4:12, it takes 8 minutes.  Alarm goes off at 4:20 and I usually hear the kettle click indicating it's ready within 30 seconds.  The dogs (in another room) also hear the alarm and the kettle click and they start whining and sometimes scratching on the door.  This is very effective for getting me up!  I go pour the water on the coffee, head to the bathroom and then let the dogs out of their room and feed them.  By the time that is done, the coffee is ready and I can enjoy it while I wake up for the workout.

What! You grind beans and let them sit out overnight! Might as well get your coffee at Tim's or *$'s if that is what you are going to do! Shane

I'd kill for a Tim's coffee right now...

I am kinda craving a little DD myself. Who else is up for a coffee break?

If you are going to go Gluten free that's the way to do it for sure.  I am not Gluten free at all but I don't do any of the cracker/muffin/cookie stuff anymore.  If you stay away from packaged foods, especially for snacks, energy bars, etc it is actually easy to be mostly GF.  It just happens.

I lost my boobs last week.    So not losing weight but my body is changing for sure.  And I do really mean last week, no gradual decline there.  I measure weekly and one week they just reduced significantly.  I'm checking local lost and founds...

lol, yeah, I know it is not the best coffee by a long shot but Tim's coffee has a lot of memories for me.  Lots of road trips, hanging out with friends, etc etc.

Shane, I just want to say that you're my hero and your last post in the flu shot thread is the post of the year.

For the rest of you wise folks who stay out of Tri Talk ... it isn't about Tri Talk, really ... it's just about intelligent, informed discussion in general and how scientific information ... well ... here goes:

"IMO this is part of the problem with this debate; someone does a Google search, finds something that supports their position and feels as though their beliefs have been validated because someone else has the same beliefs. Just because I can find a website (or even a scientific article) that claims something, for example that dihydrogen monoxide should be banned, does not mean that there is actually a foundation for that belief.

Further, since we live in a society that is mostly scientifically illiterate, encouraging people to do their own research and make their own decision will often lead to them making a decision that is not founded upon scientific principles. Most people are unable to decipher scientific literature so they will turn to media and/or websites in order to make their decision; unfortunately, scientists tend to do a poor job of communicating their work to lay people. The end result is that the websites that are most accessible to the lay person are those that are not founded upon scientific inquiry and research but since they often appear to be well designed and written, the lay person is swayed by the argument. In addition, typically media involvement doesn't help as the media is trained to tell both sides of the story; so, find a scientist to present their findings, find a scientist to present an opposing point of view and let the viewer decide. Not only is the viewer likely ill equipped to make a decision based on a thirty second newsclip, but this presentation creates the appearance that both points of view are scientifically valid.

We have seen this approach through much of the second half of the twenieth century and into the twenty first; from automobile manufactures, from tobacco companies, from anti-AGW groups, from anti-nuclear power groups, from ID advocates, etc. By creating a controversy in the mind of the public where there really is no scientific controversy, they are able to harbour distrust and skepticism of science which leads to things like evolution not being taught in some public schools.

I would like to believe that the general public could educate themselves to the point that they could make informed decisions based upon scientific evidence but I'm not sure that this is actually the case. However, until such time that we get to that point, we will continue to have people make decisions based upon their opinions as they feel their opinions have the same weight as scientific theory."

I personally think this is one of the biggest problems in the developed world, currently, and Shane's right to also point out we sci guys aren't always the best at clear and simple communication to non sci guys.

It also helps me take a sober look at, and continue to re/view evidence regarding health and training. Personal experience (or that of those close to us) is an extremely powerful and subtle force and it certainly affects my own behavior more so than, sometimes, the facts.

Oh, and thank you for those of you who responded about these last 10 days (gulp) before IM and what and whatnot to do.

As it turns out, the vicissitudes of work and errandhood and what part of Bali I need to be in are determining how it's going to go. It's going to be about the same amount of swimming (4 hrs-ish), a lot less than 11 hours of cycling (probably nothing longer than 3 hrs) and about the same of running (5 hrs-ish but about half will be aquajogging. I mentioned that in an earlier post but forgot to repeat it).

As I said, race week will be whatever I can manage between the inevitable last-minute crap that comes up and travel. The water temps over in Busso are in the low 20s (around 70F-ish), very nice but still a bit cool for me so I'll paddle about in the ocean every day before race day.

Speaking of evidence, I still firmly believe that three days worth of cooler water acclimation is far superior to zero ... my belief makes it so

I won't comment further but just to say be careful who you aggravate on the boards....  I once got a threatening PM from one of your foils in that thread, and as a result I never engage him anymore.  Ever.   Just too unpredictable.

Did this thread get deleted [nevermind, found it]!  I miss all the fun.  I don't understand how I've never received one of these, it's certainly not for lack of effort.

Back to other stuff, I go away for Thanksgiving and I can never get caught back up with the group.  Congrats to everyone with good race results and special congratulations to Jen!  Kids are the best (when they aren't driving you mad after you've been in the car for four hours threatening to pull over and drop them off at the nearest bus stop with five bucks and a map, but otherwise . . . .). 

I'm finally back in a good stretch of high frequency 2/3(mainly)/4 mile runs.  It's ridiculous how much better a simple three mile run feels after a couple weeks of consistency.  Countdown to my early February 8-mile hilly trail race is on.